Music stands that are collapsible for ease of storage and handling are well known. One commonly used design has a music desk comprising stays or wires connected in a scissors arrangement, and attached to an upright base. An example of this type is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,812 to Auke disclosing a collapsible music stand comprising a rod shaped central upright supported by legs and with a head consisting of extendable stays that can be folded. Stands of this type, however, typically lack rigidity in the desk assembly. As a result, they often do not provide adequate support for sheets of music, especially when the music is thin or is of a large size. Neither are they suitable for supporting heavy items such as books.
Another type of stand has a solid music desk comprised of folding platens, hinged together in any number of arrangements. An example of this type is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,856 issued to Hsu. The folding platens of this type, however, generally make the stand heavy and bulky when folded.
Both types of prior art stands generally lack means for easily and securely adjusting tilt of the desk. Often, no adjustment at all for tilt is provided. If provided, the means used sometimes relies on friction between two parts to maintain a selected position. Such an arrangement is prone to undesired movement if bumped or even if a heavier object is placed on the desk. Other arrangements involve parts secured with a screw or bolt. Such arrangements, however, have the disadvantage of being hard to adjust and manipulate, and difficult to disassemble for storage or transport.
What is needed is a stand that is easily collapsible into a compact form, while having a rigid desk assembly when deployed. Such a stand should be capable of handling very large and thin music sheets as well as books and other heavy items at a variety of desk tilt angles.
The present invention is a collapsible music stand that addresses the problems found in the prior art. The stand generally includes a desk assembly, an upright assembly and a base.
In preferred embodiments, the desk is collapsible, and includes a lower music rest and a crown member connected at the sides by an arrangement of pivoted arms. When extended so that the desk is in a deployed condition with the music rest and crown member spaced apart, the arms are positioned in an xe2x80x9cover-centerxe2x80x9d arrangement with the pivot of the arms displaced to one said of a center axis which extends through the ends of each arm. The arms are biased against arm stops on the music rest and the crown member by elastic or spring bias members that act to pull the top member towards the music rest. This arrangement provides a very rigid desk suitable for supporting heavy items. When desired, the desk can be collapsed by pressing the arms inward and pushing the top member toward the music rest. Recesses for the arms may be provided so that the desk folds into a compact package.
A quick-connect device may be provided so that the desk is easily and quickly detachable from the base and upright. Desk tilt is preferably user adjustable with a hand operable spring-loaded tilt adjustment apparatus having a number of discrete positions. Also, extensible clips may be provided to support large sheets of music or other matter.
The upright assembly may be height adjustable by means of telescoping members that are held in a desired position with a compression fitting. The telescoping members also allow the upright assembly to be collapsed into a compact form.
In preferred embodiments, the base assembly may include pivoted legs that are inwardly foldable. In use, the base assembly may be secured to the bottom of the upright assembly with a threaded connection. The base assembly can thus be unthreaded and the mounting hub slid along the upright assembly when the stand is collapsed. Thus, with legs folded, the base and upright assembly assume a compact, easily transportable and storable form.
Thus, a collapsible music stand according to the present invention includes a ground engaging base portion, an upright portion, and a selectively collapsible desk detachably operably coupled to the upright portion. The desk has a pair of body portions operably coupled by a pair of over-center toggle linkages. Each over-center toggle linkage is selectively positionable in at least a first favored position, wherein the linkage is extended so that the body portions are spaced apart and the linkage opposes movement of the body portions toward each other. Further, the toggle linkages are positionable in a second favored position wherein the body portions are freely movable toward each other to collapse the desk. The desk further includes at least one resilient element arranged so as to bias the body portions toward each other when each the toggle linkages are positioned in the first favored position. The music stand may also include a tilt mechanism enabling the desk to be selectively positioned at any of a plurality of predetermined discrete tilt positions. Extensible music clips may be included to enable the desk to support music pieces having extended width dimensions.
The present invention may also be characterized as including a music stand with a ground engaging base portion, an upright portion, and a selectively collapsible desk detachably operably coupled to the upright portion. The desk includes a pair of articulating arm assemblies, each having a pair of opposing ends and including a pair of links connected at a pivot, each arm assembly presenting a center axis extending through the ends. Further, the desk includes a pair of opposing body portions arranged so as to operably couple the pair of body portions. The body portions and the arm assemblies have cooperating stop structures defining a favored deployed position of the desk wherein the body portions are spaced apart and the pivot of each arm assembly is laterally displaced from the center axis in a first direction. The arm assemblies and the body portions are adapted so that when the pivot of each said arm assembly is laterally displaced from the center axis in a second direction opposite the first direction, the desk is positionable in a favored collapsed position wherein said arm assemblies are folded and the body portions are adjacent each other. At least one resilient element is provided coupling the body portions and arranged so as bias the desk in the deployed position.